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"The diaries were written between October 1922 and March 1923. In one entry Einstein wrote that the “Chinese don’t sit on benches while eating but squat like Europeans do when they relieve themselves out in the leafy woods. All this occurs quietly and demurely. Even the children are spiritless and look obtuse.”
Speaking about the “abundance of offspring” and the “fecundity” of the Chinese, he continued: “It would be a pity if these Chinese supplant all other races. For the likes of us the mere thought is unspeakably dreary.”
Einstein also derided the people of Ceylon, which is now known as Sri Lanka. In Ceylon, he wrote, the locals “live in great filth and considerable stench at ground level,” before adding they “do little and need little. The simple economic cycle of life.”
Einstein also gave his thoughts on Japanese people, who he viewed in a more positive light, calling them “unostentatious, decent, altogether very appealing.” However, he also wrote the “intellectual needs of this nation seem to be weaker than their artistic ones – natural disposition?”
Most of them are simple observations of a traveller. And not too dissimilar to observations still made today. After all, just go to India. I don't particularly find them racist.
you can't judge people from 100 plus years ago using today's standards.. that's just dumb. I would imagine that 99% of the people alive in the late 19th century and early 20th century shared some racist tendencies.. not really a big deal and shouldn't come as a big shock..
There's a huge difference between "don't like" and actively suppressing, terrorizing or murdering. The only memorials we are reevaluating are to men who did the latter, or supported it by vote and force.
Next.
....and not so fast there with your snarky little "next".
By your own admission, voting against gay marriage would be grounds for such actions as it suppress
I mentioned JFK memorial 100 years from now for being anti-trans or whatnot.
I find it entirely plausible especially given that you can't even open a Chick-fil-a on a college campus these days without a challenge being mounted to block it.
If you want to discuss this like adults without the snark, then I welcome the opportunity.
Big deal. By today's standards every single person who was alive in 1920 would be run out of town on a rail for one reason or another.
Did women have the right to vote in 1920?
Could gays get married in 1920, or even hold a job?
Could Jews like Einstein live anywhere they wanted to in 1920? Could blacks?
Why did the KKK have 4 million members in 1920? (compared to around 6,000 today)
Einstein may even have been considered progressive in 1920, but today he'd seem arch-conservative. Let it go.
"The diaries were written between October 1922 and March 1923. In one entry Einstein wrote that the “Chinese don’t sit on benches while eating but squat like Europeans do when they relieve themselves out in the leafy woods. All this occurs quietly and demurely. Even the children are spiritless and look obtuse.”
Speaking about the “abundance of offspring” and the “fecundity” of the Chinese, he continued: “It would be a pity if these Chinese supplant all other races. For the likes of us the mere thought is unspeakably dreary.”
Einstein also derided the people of Ceylon, which is now known as Sri Lanka. In Ceylon, he wrote, the locals “live in great filth and considerable stench at ground level,” before adding they “do little and need little. The simple economic cycle of life.”
Einstein also gave his thoughts on Japanese people, who he viewed in a more positive light, calling them “unostentatious, decent, altogether very appealing.” However, he also wrote the “intellectual needs of this nation seem to be weaker than their artistic ones – natural disposition?”
Most of them are simple observations of a traveller. And not too dissimilar to observations still made today. After all, just go to India. I don't particularly find them racist.
I mean, if the extent of his "racist" actions were these writings in a personal journal never intended for distribution, i guess I'd say we don't have a problem here.
I mean, didn't China later go on to institute a 1 child policy? Apparently this view wasn't a White only one. It also wasn't necessarily racist. Wasn't it as late as the 70's/80's that the world laughed along to every sperm being sacred sung by a household full of Catholic Irish children in a Monte Python spoof...for widespread circulation. Large family sizes were seen as problematic.
As for living a simple life, isn't it openly applauded today when city sophisticates criticize simpler communities even here in America? I'm sure Einstein was struck by rural living, and the smell of animals that accompanies it. Rural living IS simpler, more utilitarian and certainly not devoted to niceties that will be seen by nobody else.
Finally on the Japanese, they were known for valuing art very highly. For a man devoted to scientific reason, this would have been undoubtedly curious. How many meetings has one sat in anywhere where the person with the right answer loses to the person with the right presentation approach? At the top level, we call them attorneys.
Now, he may have been racist, and he may have changed over time, but I wouldn't take these excerpts and make any hardbound conclusions from them. I would disagree with him that racism is a disease of only White cultures, but from where the US was at the time, it makes sense to address it as such.
Anyway, let me go back to personal narrative, not intended for distribution. Nothing above looks remotely close enough to disparage the man.
I seriously doubt that his views would have been considered the least bit racist in the 1920’s or 1930’s, so why do they matter now?
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